Does Tank Armor/Armor even work!?!

[Aslayerem]

I recently did a little experiment with my soldier the other day. After getting MKII and not being able to use it because of the nano costs I pulled off my tank armor mid battle. No change to the damage I was taking. Mobs kept hitting me just as hard as ever. I've been thinking this for some time. How does AC really work, or does it even really work at all??? Don't see how my AC can drop from 1000 to 700 and not change the damage at all. I went through the rest of that mission and several missions since and haven't noticed any difference. Any explanation would be appreciated. Is high AC only useful in PvP or what? I've had the Tank Armor for a few lvls, but it really makes me mad that I buffed and implanted and wasted ips to put something on that doesn't really even work.

[Kinkstaah]

One of two things could be happening here.

1) You left MK on when you took these tests.

2) The more likely situation, was that the mob was hitting you with min damage with 1000AC, but when you removed your tank armor, your 700AC was still enough for them to be unable to hit anything other than min damage.

[Aslayerem]

Unless you know a way to walk around all the time with MK on then I'd say I know that it was off. It only lasts 26secs, gee. My guess is your second answer maybe right, but all mobs min dmg seems to be way high. It doesn't seem to make sense though. How does the AC work? Every so many points of AC absorbs how much damage?

[______________Obitus]

I have often wondered this same thing. Does your AC really make a difference, I have had mltiple ac buffs put on me and while it looks nice, I don't really notice that I am being hit for any less.

I think I will try the game without my tank armor on for a bit and see if i notice the 600 AC difference, if AC really makes a difference, I should notice that I am taking more hits or harder hits or something.....

I will let you know what I find.

[_______________spydr]

Yes, AC does work; and yes, Mobs have insane min dmg.

If you wanna test AC, it's real easy. Go to some place thats very near a respawn terminal and attack the guards many times. To account for the loss of skill, don't record the first time, just all the other times when you're about the same place in the rez sickness.

Attack them 10-20 times with full armor; record the damages
Attack them 10-20 times w/o tank armor; record the damages
Attack them 10-20 times w/o as much armor as you can re-equip; record the damages


I say that you should attack a guard because they do insane amounts of damage, but they usually do about the same insane amounts of damage. Plus they are usually very close to a scanner. You'll notice that AC does make a difference.

Also, the amount of damage AC reduces is 1 point per 10AC.

[_______________Talys]

Originally posted by Obitus

I think I will try the game without my tank armor on for a bit and see if i notice the 600 AC difference, if AC really makes a difference, I should notice that I am taking more hits or harder hits or something.....

I removed a ql 140 heavy tank (about 700 AC), and replaced it with a QL 75 nano cloak (about 300 AC? I forget exactly), and there is not really any visible difference in monster damage, not from baby monsters, nor from deep reds. I'm not saying that AC is broken, but rather that 400 AC doesn't really make a noticable difference one way or the other (total AC is about 3300 buffed with tank, 2900 buffed with nano cloak, mobs range from lvl 90 to 140). Bottom line is, the enforcers and soldiers in our group are all switching to nano cloaks (or decus, for the fashionably unaware). In town we sometimes switch back to tank for the looks.

[_______________Gnada]

I noticed a rather sizeable difference in one aspect of the damage i took after ditching my tank: i started taking way more "crit" dmg from monsters that previously only hit me for minimum dmg.

For example....

With tank armor: Shade Outlaw hits me for 86 86 86 86 86 86 86

With Coat (-500 AC): Shade Outlaw hits for 92 92 268 92 92 92 268

This was very consistent with other mob types as well.

-Gnada

[Aslayerem]

I did a little more testing today. This time w/o any armor. Ok, seems like mobs would be hitting me really hard w/o any armor right? No, a few of them did hit a few more crits than usual but that's about it. If I had fought these same mobs back when I was lower lvl they would've kicked my butt. So I don't see that AC is working as most people think it is. An explanation from FC on how AC works would be nice, because the 10AC reduces 1pt dmg doesn't hold up...

[______________Yazule]

Originally posted by spydr
Yes, AC does work; and yes, Mobs have insane min dmg.

If you wanna test AC, it's real easy. Go to some place thats very near a respawn terminal and attack the guards many times. To account for the loss of skill, don't record the first time, just all the other times when you're about the same place in the rez sickness.

Attack them 10-20 times with full armor; record the damages
Attack them 10-20 times w/o tank armor; record the damages
Attack them 10-20 times w/o as much armor as you can re-equip; record the damages


I say that you should attack a guard because they do insane amounts of damage, but they usually do about the same insane amounts of damage. Plus they are usually very close to a scanner. You'll notice that AC does make a difference.

Also, the amount of damage AC reduces is 1 point per 10AC.

I would do that.. but I kill the guards

[________________Heya]

I have bout 2850ac buffed with tank.
I constantly remove my tank in fights to heal and whenever i do so i can clearly see that im taking alot more dmg then before.
This is ofcource on lvl 100-150+ mobs.

Vandame

[_______zeroframerate]

Originally posted by Yazule
I would do that.. but I kill the guards

rofl! I can't wait to get to that point.

[Cheddar]

The convention is that 10 points of AC roughly reduces damage by 1 point. A change in AC of 500 points would amount to a change in damage of only 50 points. Moreover, such a small amount might be easily buried in the wide damage variance of this game.

If you really want to spot the difference, take off all your armor and let something yellow-orange take a few a whacks at you. You'll really notice the difference.

[blu789]

Every 10 points of armor class takes off 1 point of *maximum* damage from an attack. It does nothing for the minimum.

So if a monster has an attack that does 65-120(120) damage:

If you have the best possible armor you can wear for your level, and are taking minimum damage from attacks (i.e. 65, 65, 65, 65, 65, 65, 65, 65), then adding tank armor isn't going to help, since you will continue to take minimum damage.

When you are taking minimum damage all the time, because your armor is so good, tank armor actually makes it worse: tank armor drops your evades, increasing the chance of you getting hit by a critical.

So if you had awesome armor w/o tank, you'd be like 65, 65, 65, 65, 65, 65, 65, 65. But with tank, it might be more like 65, 65, 185, 65, 65, 185.

So if you have the best possible armor and armor implants, as long as you're fighting yellow monsters, or less, etc., you are better off *not* wearing tank armor, since minimum damage isn't going to get any lower, but your chance of getting hit by criticals will.

But if your AC isn't the "best you could possibly get after twinked out to the max", then tank armor might be an improvement.

Screw tank armor, go for hanshi secondus coat, nano coat, etc.

Tim

[_______________Skara]

AC does work. The real algorithm may be a mystery, but it does decrease damage. I have a deflection shield that increases my AC by a good bit when activated. I have experimented with it, and the dmg per hit does decrease when I use it (I usually use it against reds, but the dmg does decrease when it is active).

TimOtholt:

Reds are harder to kill after the last few patches (I like it btw, since red is supposed to mean death).

From you sig, it looks like your main is an Adventurer too

I noticed a lot of nano interrupts. I had that problem after I hit the low 40's, especially against red enforcers.

You will need a 4 slot belt for it, but the best NCU Coolant Sink your complit will allow will be some of the best money you spent in the game. I tried a 98% and it did nothing. The one I have now is like 79%, or something close to that. I rarely get interrupted now.


Skara